(i)Tunes in the Zune II

Contrary to popular belief, which may have been influenced by my lack of recent postings, I do still exist and still think about improving this blog.  Hopefully this segment is an improvement over our last one, and as this continues to develop I will implement a creative (at least as creative as I can be) rating scheme to allow for people to actually understand what I am trying to say.  Because I haven’t thought of anything yet, you will be forced to suffer through my reviews at least one more time.

Masta Ace – A Long Hot Summer (2004)

Ace has truly mastered the concept album.  It plays like a movie and is pretty cohesive, flowing from angry to laid back tracks seamlessly with the storyline.  This provides the backdrop for Masta Ace to shine, on classic tracks like Beautiful and the pre-eMC Travelocity featuring Punch N’ Words.  If you are unfamiliar to Ace or this album, smack yourself in the head several times, then go pick this up.

Atmosphere – The Family Sign (2011)

Atmosphere has been Twin Cities music for over a decade, drawing almost 20,000 fans for their set at SoundSet this year.  Although their music has changed dramatically as of late, they still flex their skills on this album.  Only time will tell if anymore classics will emerge from this album, but besides a few missteps (one of which occurs when Slug attempts to croon) the album is solid if you are willing to adapt to their changing sound.

Masterclass – Masterclass (compilation) [2011]

Wow.  Pure beat tape goodness that deserves to be on constant repeat.  Definitely buy this if you can, but somehow this insane ish can be gotten for free!  Visit bandcamp to delight your eardrums.

Hasaan Mackey – Soul For Sale (2011)

Some good, hardish raps with substance from the good folks at Mello Music Group.  Nothing off the wall amazing upon first listen, but with the free price tag everyone should venture over to bandcamp for a listen.  Listening to this as I write the brief review, and I would say that the previous lines don’t quite do justice to this project.  It is quite good.

Kids These Days – Hard Times EP

Young, witty MC firing lines the wonderful tunes of a live band.  The track Summerscent definitely put a smile on my face.  If my one line description peaks your interest at all, hop on over to the wonderful Musical Schizophrenia for a sample track and more.

http://musicalschizophrenia.blogspot.com/search/label/Kids%20These%20Days

M.E.R.C. & DJ A to the L – Daylight Marauders

A tribute album to the classic Midnight Marauders, this effort does not embarrass the original ATCQ crew.  Although I’m not incredibly well versed in ATCQ albums (let the stream of angry comments from our one loyal reader [if you actually exist] begin), this is an enjoyable listen and worth the time if you are looking to listen to new artists.

Check the link for the free download.

Freeness from Sareem Poems - Black and Read All Over

Another MMG Free Fridays Summer Giveaway, this time coming from Sareem Poems.  It is quite the quality release, and once you see the guest list you'll see huge amount of talent that worked on this album.  This was released several years ago, so it is not fresh enough in my mind to give a review that is to useful but just trust me and check out this free release (for a limited time only).

BBQ!

Hooray for America. Happy 4th everybody from the Ginger and the Jew

Kendrick Lamar- Section 80

While we haven't really done any posts on it, Kendrick Lamar has garnered significant buzz from the underground in preperation for his project Section 80. In a time where some of the described next big things are putting out horrible singles (cough J Cole cough), Kendrick is coming through with real lyricism on top of solid beats. Some background on K.Dot- he is from Compton, is 24, and is working with Dr. Dre on Detox, whenever that is gonna come out. He also was a XXL 2011 Freshman along with Big K.R.I.T., Cyhi Da Prince, Yelawolf, and some others. He is unsigned but with probably get on Dre's Aftermath labe

With hot singles like HiiPower and Ronald Reagan and a cosign from Dre, Kendrick Lamar is here to stay. Download Section 80 and get some good rhymes in your head this 4th of July.

DL the project here (gotta have torrents though)

CurrenSy- Weekend at Burnie's

The hot spitta brings what he good at, weed raps over fat beats. This comes off of his 4/20 release of Covert Coup, an EP with Alchemist. This one's a real album no mixtape, but then again it is becoming harder and harder to tell the difference between the two. Curren$y is saying that you can synch up this album with the actual 80's movie Weekend at Bernie's, but I'm not buying that. He's just high.
Catch the album here. Props to HHA

Also enjoy the video of people "movin like bernie" dance, aka what I do around 2 am weekend nights due to entirely too much alcohol. This kids are just as bad, if not worse.


Moving Like Bernie: Teletubby Style

Freeness from Illuminous 3: Illuminous Free

So, my last post about Illuminous 3 turned into me raving about Doomtree, so I figured this next post should highlight the work of Illuminous 3 themselves.  It turns out that they've compiled their monthly series into a convenient album format, which can be downloaded here.  Tracklist is as follows:

 But lets be honest, this is going to turn into a Doomtree lovefest again.  The last producer to work with the Ill 3 crew is P.O.S., who is also featured on the vocals to this incredibly dope song.  Check out the setup and hear from the busy and exceptionally tired P.O.S., then download the song and enjoy.  Big ups to Midwest Broadcast for the links




http://www.divshare.com/download/15141020-f95

Freeness from Illuminous 3

Illuminous 3 have been putting out a free song every month as part of their Ill Free series, and they work with a different producer for each track.  Additionally, they do a producer spotlight to promote some of the unknown producers in the area and show their setup.

Not quite an unknown, Lazerbeak contributed this month's beat, and in the video talks a little about the upcoming Doomtree projects.  I really couldn't be more excited for whats coming from the crew, especially after seeing them at SoundSet and the Hand Over Fist show (with a surprise visit from P.O.S.) for $3 dollars at the Triple Rock social club. For proof that I was there, go on over to Midwest Broadcast.  The still shot that appears before you click on the video has some big (and tall) dumb idiot's head poised over everybody else.  That is me.

Watch the video and download the song now.






http://www.divshare.com/download/14909964-992 
In related news, the Doomtree crew got all fancy this weekend in celebration of Andrew Sims' wedding.

Yes, that is Lazerbeak up on stage running the show.  Entire crew pictured below.

Big congratulations to Sims and check out more photos at Doomtree.net and props to Midwest Broadcast for the musical links